Juice and Jam Time

Something has happened. Something I have been waiting for since 1995. One of my biggest heroes is making a come back, and this time it appears to be the real deal. He has made a series of attempts over the past 15 years but nothing has stuck. It’s been a rocky 15 years fraught with one failure after the other but he never vanished completely. He always hung on, waiting for that one glorious day when he could once again take his spot at the top again. That day is nigh, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited.

He’s a runner, he’s blue, he’s the fastest thing alive!

Oh yeah, Sonic is back in glorious side scrolling action in Sonic The Hedgehog 4. It picks up directly after the events of Sonic 3. Thank You Sega. It took you fifteen years, but it appears that you are finally getting it right.

I’m really not much of a video game guy, but they were a big part of my life when I was a young kid. I bought my first Nintendo with my own money when I was like 6. I still enjoy a good video game session from time to time, and I actually bought a 360 prior to my surgery so that I would have something to do while I was laid up. Mostly, I would rather be active and outside.

But I have a special place in my heart for Sonic. On top of being blue (blue and I have a history) he’s a runner, and a fast one at that. I would have a hard time keeping up, I mean tails wasn’t able to.

So, I’m super stoked and can’t wait to go after the chaos emeralds once again. Seriously, the sense of accomplishment you get from collecting all of the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 and turning into super sonic….it’s just amazing. I can get them all in the first two acts. You can’t step to me at Sonic.

I’ve finally started logging some decent runs of my own as well. I mean I’m not running loop de loops but I am improving. I’ve had a couple of 10 mile runs and I’m feeling good. Getting back into the grove has proven difficult. I just haven’t been able to find my “old” form. My surgery, and injuries have left me not feeling the same. I don’t have the same relaxed graceful and powerful stride that I once had, and I haven’t been able to find it. I’ve been looking everywhere. Last weekend I logged a 40 mile bike ride with my buddy Keegan and then a few hours later laced up my asics. It started out rough once again, but then I decided to switch off my watch and just try to “lose myself” in the run and just trust my legs to pull me along. I think it started to work. The first 3 miles felt great, then I hit a few bumps between 4-6, felt really fatigued at 7, and then got my second wind at mile 8.

Running is the hardest thing in the world to start and the hardest thing to stop. I had my last follow-up appointment with my podiatrist as well. It seems that everything is working as it should. He was a little disappointed in the size of the scar from the surgery, but I told him not to worry because I kinda dug it. I expressed some concerns that I was having, the most prominent one being with my orthotics. Back in November we made a dramatic change to my orthotics by cutting the front 1/4 of them off entirely so that they sat in the shoe properly. It seems all this time they had not been fitted correctly. Due to this adjustment I’ve had some pain in my right arch which I was at first attributing to adjusting to the new fit. It continued for a few runs, and then I sprained my ankle and was set back another 8 weeks, so I still really haven’t gotten a chance to really break into them, but they are starting to feel better.

I also recently ran the Hellhole 10k in Jamestown SC, with my friend Anne and her friend Brian. It was a great race set smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Jamestown is a tiny isolated 1 intersection town, that plays host to the oldest 10k in South Carolina. The town had some serious southern culture, as evident by the winner trophies being gator heads. The race also started with a real shotgun start.

It was a small field so I thought I might have a chance of at least placing in my age group. That didn’t happen. It was a surprisingly fast group. For the first 2.5 miles I locked onto a guy who was holding a 7:00 min pace. That’s fast for me. I got winded and had to slow way down. I crossed the line at 54:55. Not great, but not bad.

So overall, I think I’m heading down the right road, it’s just a bit bumpy right now.